I've asked around, and most people in my neck of the woods -- at least the ones I am running in to are v. mainstream-- some of them to the point of "what? you don't want a planned birth?"......
I am planning ahead.... not pg, but are TTC. (ack, first time Im really admitting that "out loud" haha).

I am looking for a different birth experience "next time" than that of my first. (induced, pitocin, epidural, threatened with vacuum to get me to push basically...)

I am looking for an OB that is easy going and natural-birth minded, that will deliver at St Vincents Carmel or Clarian North (I think?) -- as I *know* my super-logical dh will totally balk at the idea of driving PAST two hospitals to get to another....haha!
I would also be very interested to hear about midwives that deliver at hospitals as well...

I live in Noblesville and my birth sounds like yours except mine ended in c-section. My dd was born at Riverview, chosen by location. I will be watching this because I need a new doc too. As far as I've found, only Methodist allows midwives to deliver.

A, WOHM hoping to be a SAHM married to E (7/7/01), mama to R :: (2/8/08) : : hopeful for ::

I've asked around, and most people in my neck of the woods -- at least the ones I am running in to are v. mainstream-- some of them to the point of "what? you don't want a planned birth?"......
I am planning ahead.... not pg, but are TTC. (ack, first time Im really admitting that "out loud" haha).

I am looking for a different birth experience "next time" than that of my first. (induced, pitocin, epidural, threatened with vacuum to get me to push basically...)

I am looking for an OB that is easy going and natural-birth minded, that will deliver at St Vincents Carmel or Clarian North (I think?) -- as I *know* my super-logical dh will totally balk at the idea of driving PAST two hospitals to get to another....haha!
I would also be very interested to hear about midwives that deliver at hospitals as well...

THANKS so much!!!:

Sometimes you have to drive to get what you want. lol I'm driving out of a town with two "perfectly good" hospitals to birth at Community Hospital in Anderson. We currently live in Kokomo. Both Methodist and Community Hospital, Anderson are certified baby friendly, have midwives on staff and offer water birth. I do know that Riverview is intervention-happy and they also aren't very breastfeeding friendly. Good luck!

I found Riverview to be helpful for breastfeeding. I saw two of their lactation consultants, one was great, and attended their breastfeeding support group for awhile. My bfing relationship was almost destroyed because of the poor post partum care I recieved from my doctor, not the hospital. I had retained placenta show up on an ultrasound at 6 weeks pp that my doctor claimed was a fibroid. I didn't have enough milk for my dd until I passed it on my own at 10 weeks pp.

IME, they are intervention-happy though but I thought that may just be my doctor. I was very naive and not afraid of birth when I had dd and just went along with what they told me to my detriment. I now have to look for VBAC options as well if I'm even able to concieve after all that.

To the OP, everyone I know here with small kids had initial and then repeat c-sections. The one who didn't have c-sections had an OB who refused to attend her birth if she didn't have an epidural. I don't know anyone IRL to VBAC, and the only one I know here to have pain-med free births, her youngest child is 12. Where I grew up homebirth was very common and natural birth the norm (at least then) so I feel kind of out of place. I had no idea I couldn't get that in a hospital.

A, WOHM hoping to be a SAHM married to E (7/7/01), mama to R :: (2/8/08) : : hopeful for ::

Dr. Elizabeth Case (IU Women's Health ) was my OB. She practices out of Clarian West in Avon.

She is VERY natural-minded and will spend a lot of time with you if you want. She always answered all my questions and I never once felt rushed thru an appt.

She came highly recommended to me from the doula I used and she definitely lived up to my expectations. She had no problems with any part of my NCB birth plan and even asked me to call her cell # directly when I went into labor if it wasn't her "on-call" day. She said that she would handle my birthing experience regardless if it was her on-call day or not. True to her word, she took care of me even though it was her off day when I went into labor.

I had a very long labor that began with PROM and no significant contractions for 18 hours. I finally birthed my DS 33.5 hours after my PROM. There was NEVER a discussion about a C/S even though most docs would have given me 24-hours tops. I can't recommend her highly enough.

Also, the lactation consultant at Clarian West was awesome! My DS had low blood-sugar b/c I was in labor so long. She was in my room immediately after they found out b/c she knew I wanted to breastfeed only. With her help, my DS got the much-needed colostrum and his sugars came up w/o having to give him anything from a bottle. Debbie, one of the nurses there, was the most helpful in getting breastfeeding established. She also works at Methodist.

If you don't want to go that far, try contacting Julie Pichon (doula) for a recommendation in your area. I know she's worked with women up North however I don't know her experience with NCB docs up there.

I found Riverview to be helpful for breastfeeding. I saw two of their lactation consultants, one was great, and attended their breastfeeding support group for awhile. My bfing relationship was almost destroyed because of the poor post partum care I recieved from my doctor, not the hospital. I had retained placenta show up on an ultrasound at 6 weeks pp that my doctor claimed was a fibroid. I didn't have enough milk for my dd until I passed it on my own at 10 weeks pp.

I only said that about Riverview because every mother I know who has had a baby there has left with a nipple shield and all but one have not breastfed longer than a week or so because "maybe you just don't have enough milk".

I wonder if you had the same doctor my friend did? She ended up with a 36 week induction for a large baby and a c-section under general anesthesia. I kind of wonder about a hospital who can't even put in a spinal (I have never heard of that happening in a non-emergency situation). This particular doctor had already had one c-section herself and didn't see the big deal, she actually wanted my friend to have an elective c-section because the baby was so "huge". He was 9 lbs 6 oz. which isn't THAT big.

I will NOT be delivering another child at Riverview but I've since heard of at least one other doctor that practices there that is known for throwing out birth plans etc. I could name names but I'm new here and I think that's against the rules? I've kind of felt that what happened to me was pretty much because I didn't know better at the time but it might have been more.

And I did leave the hospital with a nipple shield but was able to wean off of it by 6 weeks. I really didn't have enough milk (lack of weight gain etc) due to my placenta retention. It was truly pure stubornness and the fabulous support of my dh that kept me at it.

A, WOHM hoping to be a SAHM married to E (7/7/01), mama to R :: (2/8/08) : : hopeful for ::

I will NOT be delivering another child at Riverview but I've since heard of at least one other doctor that practices there that is known for throwing out birth plans etc. I could name names but I'm new here and I think that's against the rules? I've kind of felt that what happened to me was pretty much because I didn't know better at the time but it might have been more.

And I did leave the hospital with a nipple shield but was able to wean off of it by 6 weeks. I really didn't have enough milk (lack of weight gain etc) due to my placenta retention. It was truly pure stubornness and the fabulous support of my dh that kept me at it.

Yeah, I don't think we're supposed to name names. I'm glad you were able to continue nursing even with the placental retention. It sounds like your doctor totally missed the mark on that one.

Not that I plan to go to Riverview, that is over in Noblesville, right?

I think I need to educate myself, and find somoe hard-fact statistics on hospital vs birth center vs home in the area --- somehow for both my own sake and for my very "do the research" minded hubby....
Question is, where do I start???

Don't be concerned. Just know what you want and research, research, research.

From what I know, Methodist and the Community Hospital in Anderson are the only Baby Friendly designated hopsitals in the area. I don't think there are any Mother Friendly ones. There is one birth center downtown but I think that's the only one. Lay-midwives are not legal here either but there are some CNMs that attend homebirths if that's an issue for you. I know that Clarion North has the wire-free fetal monitors and birthing tubs. There are several moms I've talked to online that had positive natural birth experiences there. There is one ob's name that keeps coming up on another board I frequent as being a fabulous supporter of natural birth but is not warm and fuzzy.

I've found www.childbirthconnection.org to be a great resource in finding research based information on interventions. You might contact a doula for their experiences in the different hospitals. When the time comes for me again, I think I might just call and see if I can talk to a nurse in the L&D department of all the hospitals I'm considering. If you do find somewhere that has the hospital statisics for hospitals here, let me know.

I'm a little leary of VBACing at home, although I know lots of women do it, and my husband is totally against the idea so it will probably be another hospital for me.

A, WOHM hoping to be a SAHM married to E (7/7/01), mama to R :: (2/8/08) : : hopeful for ::

This shows how many ob discharges they had and the annual charges. You have to dig a little. Not all the hospitals are on there but looking at two different ones, one had twice as many discharges with 1/2 the number of charges, so my guess is that the one has a much lower c-section rate.

A, WOHM hoping to be a SAHM married to E (7/7/01), mama to R :: (2/8/08) : : hopeful for ::

From what I know, Methodist and the Community Hospital in Anderson are the only Baby Friendly designated hopsitals in the area. I don't think there are any Mother Friendly ones. There is one birth center downtown but I think that's the only one. Lay-midwives are not legal here either but there are some CNMs that attend homebirths if that's an issue for you. I know that Clarion North has the wire-free fetal monitors and birthing tubs. There are several moms I've talked to online that had positive natural birth experiences there. There is one ob's name that keeps coming up on another board I frequent as being a fabulous supporter of natural birth but is not warm and fuzzy.

I had my youngest son at home. Before switching to home birth, I was planning a birth at that birth center (the same midwives run one in Muncie) I wasn't impressed with them. I'm sure lots of people love them but they just weren't very warm/personable. So far, I have been very happy with the midwives who deliver at Community Hospital in Anderson. I will update with my experience after I birth there, of course. lol

Riverview spent millions remodeling their "birth center" and yet ALL of the amenities are things that will make your support people comfortable, it's still your basic hospital when it comes to birthing. There are flat screen TVs, snack stations all over (but not for mom!) and a "lounge" for the family to relax in while you're laboring away. lol

I attended the Birth Options class at Methodist and was really impressed - it was the first class I've ever been to that mentioned evidence-based care practices for normal birth (i.e. labor begins on its own, freedom of movement, no routine interventions) and they seemed to be huge fans of laboring/birthing in water (though I couldn't get a good read on how many people actually do). The nurse that ran the class was a former doula and had had two successful VBACs.

I'm seeing the Healthnet midwives right across the street and have had a positive experience with the midwives, but not the OBs. I had to see one of the OBs to get "cleared" to VBAC, so if you're not VBACing, you might not ever have to deal with them (she told me "no" on water until I pushed, and also wanted me to sign a consent for c-section, telling me I might want to have it on file in case I got tired of being pregnant and decided to schedule). The midwives, on the other hand, have said they'll do whatever they can to help me be successful, because VBACing gets much harder after 2 c-sections. I also like that the office offers home visits and has a counselor on staff.

All that said, I haven't given them the true test yet, so I can't say what they will be like in labor. I am definitely going armed with my own doula (who also teaches prenatal yoga, which has been fabulous!). We'll see! I'll keep you posted - I'm due in a month!

Are you planning on delivering at Methodist or the birth center? I'm really excited to see this because I figured I'd be stuck with an OB as a VBACer. I'm not currently pregnant yet but want to know all my options.

A, WOHM hoping to be a SAHM married to E (7/7/01), mama to R :: (2/8/08) : : hopeful for ::

I'm not an expert but definitely speak with your doctor about it. My OB will happily do VBAC and based on evidence sees no reason why a woman can't, literally, he things a repeat c-section is absurd. You can always try if you want. What you really need to ask is if YOUR doctor will allow VBAC will they also agree to attend the birth? My OB had to come in on his weekend off because the on call OB refused to do attend a VBAC. Your doctor has ultimate control.

I was VERY happy with Community North. I was very well supported. My LD nurse was awesome and had faught to give birth vaginally to her twins. She did it too. I was totally supported during labor and was given as close to the experience I wanted as I could possibly get.

I had listened to all the horror stories about delivering in a hospital. My first birth was a freestanding birth center with midwives. I addressed each question I had casually with my doctor. I transferred into his practice high risk at 36 weeks so I was just glad to have a doctor at the moment. When I presented him with the opinions I was listening to he was almost offended that someone would think those things. I would really suggested trying to open your mind as wide as possible and having a conversation with your prospective doctors. Just because they may support a repeat c-section it may just be because that's what most women want. Doesn't mean they won't do VBAC. People who go into OB probably don't do it just to manage births. There is too much more involved in the life and lifestyle of a person who delivers babies and attends pregnant women for a living. I'm not saying there aren't less favorable doctors out there, I'm just saying there are a lot of really, really good ones. Especially in this area. I'm from a very well populated area on the east coast where it's actually difficult to find an OB because so many have gone to strait GYN because of insurance hassles etc... I think the most important thing is to find someone you can work with and respect their point of view too. You don't always have to fight for what you want. Often it just comes to you if you allow it.

My doc is James Brillhart. Totally love him. He's delivered babies for 30 years. He will be going to GYN and surgery only at the first of the year. Among our conversations he has said he's gone to midwife conferences and does keep himself abreast of the entire field. He's a second generation OB and comes from a background of putting women first. He truly is pro women. He respects birth plans and personal choice. I was truly blessed to find him!

Methodist needs to update its website; they no longer have the birth center and "regular" delivery in separate wings. Instead, they have one huge square with four "tub" rooms at the corners (the one on the southeast corner is absolutely awesome - if I thought I would care about a room with a tremendous view of the city during labor, I'd totally request that room). They said that very occasionally, they do run out of tub rooms, so I plan to call before I go. If there's no water, I may jump in my own bathtub...

As far as I know, the only time I had to see the OB at Healthnet was to hear the risks of VBAC and get "approval." So long as nothing else weird happens, I should be cared for by midwives from here on out. I don't get to pick which one attends the birth, however...but as far as I know, all are willing to support a VBAC.

My doc is James Brillhart. Totally love him. He's delivered babies for 30 years. He will be going to GYN and surgery only at the first of the year. Among our conversations he has said he's gone to midwife conferences and does keep himself abreast of the entire field. He's a second generation OB and comes from a background of putting women first. He truly is pro women. He respects birth plans and personal choice. I was truly blessed to find him!

You're welcome!

I did not know he was getting out of OB, though. That makes me . We plan on having more kids in the future, and that means I'll have to find another OB.

Married 6/16/01 ~ WOHM to DS1 4/29/06 and DS2 2/13/08 ~ ALMOST an RVT ~

I did not know he was getting out of OB, though. That makes me . We plan on having more kids in the future, and that means I'll have to find another OB.

Yeah, well, if you ever need surgery or LVR or a G-shot he's your man! You could probably use Dr. Hansen. I don't know much about her though. Doc B doesn't own the practice, Community Health does. I think she only works once or twice a week. He just made the decision to go GYN only, probably needs sleep! He is going to concentrate more on LVR.

I have a few patients using Dr. Amy Moon at Clarian North... she sounds reasonably promising, so we will see in a few weeks if they get the births they want.

I have doula-ed for two women that had Dr. Moon and they both have very nice births. Dr. Moon was really laid back and truly seemed committed to helping them get their natural births. I'm not sure if would have been the same a doula hadn't been present but I would venture to say so. She seems to have a really good bed side manner also. I recommend her to my north side clients that are looking for an OB.

I am reading because I'm looking for an ob that supports natural birth who also accepts medicaid??

And, want to throw a shout out to my good friend and favorite ob, Bridget Hurry. She has done all my prenatal and even attended my last home-birth as a "highly qualified" labor support person. I would be using her for this birth (which needs to be at the hospital for high-risc reasons) but, she does not accept medicaid. She delivers at Clarion North and is very supportive of natural childbirth. She has a great bedside manner, is super friendly and is a God loving, praying, powerful, awesome women!!

wow, wish I would have known about this Dr Hurry and the fact that she would consider attending homebirths as a "support person" before I got commited to another care provider... :P Not that I dont like my provider!! Just sayin! Doc + home?! sweet.